On April 25, the Delhi Police arrested a Muslim man, Mohammed Azhar, for sexually assaulting a minor girl. The accused person is said to be a school van driver and has been charged u/s 376 of IPC and section 6 of the POCSO Act for assaulting a 6-year-old school-going girl.
DCP South East Rajesh Deo revealed the information to the press and confirmed the accused’s identity. The case was registered at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh Police Station.
The Indian Penal Code’s Section 376 deals with the rape of a woman and carries a prison sentence of at least ten years, with the possibility of life imprisonment. The accused is also subject to a fine under the IPC in such cases.
The Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act of 2012 addresses aggravated penetrative sexual assault. The law imposes rigorous imprisonment for not less than twenty years, which may be extended to life imprisonment.
This is not the first report of a sexual assault in Delhi. Mohd Taqi Ahmed, 58, was arrested on April 24 for allegedly sexually assaulting a juvenile girl in his house in Ghazipur, east Delhi.
According to reports, on April 21, Ahmed approached the girl, a Class 6 student at a government school, as she was leaving her aunt’s house and grabbed her to his residence, where he allegedly undressed her and viciously abused her.
In September 2022, an underage kid was gang raped by his cousin and three friends in northeast Delhi’s Seelampur neighbourhood. As previously stated, the victim was only 12 years old. He was thrashed with rods and clubs, and a rod was inserted into his privates. The incident was brought to light after officials at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital alerted the police that a little boy had been admitted for physical assault on September 22.
A case was then filed under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 34 and 377 (unnatural sex) and related provisions of the Prevention of Child Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The police had also apprehended two of the suspects.